I want to kick off the week with some good news. Economists are noting some good news – a 3% upswing in January retail sales, combined with stronger price and labor data, says consumers are in a better place. Lower energy costs buoy them – and then combine that with Bank of America data showing they are splurging with credit and debit cards.
Plus, the supply chain is looking clear. Motive, which tracks logistics, noted an 11% increase in truck utilization.
And, there’s good news in a subset of the overall business landscape. According to the annual Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship report, Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. are more likely than white non-Hispanic ones to say they’ve recovered from the pandemic and are performing better than before. 23% of Latino-owned businesses said they’ve recovered and are doing better than before the pandemic, compared to 18% of white non-Hispanic-owned companies.
And a last tidbit – in a survey by ISC, the cybersecurity industry association, businesses executives indicated that while 85% expected layoffs, only 10% thought cybersecurity roles would be cut.
Why do we care?
The good news doesn’t make great headlines. My colleague Karl Palachuk is fond of noting how you are an economy of one. That’s true in the good times and the bad. The good times make that a bit easier.